The good: Andre Ethier's home run with 1 out in the 1st.
The bad: That would be the rest of the game.
This game turned from competitive to ugly in a matter of a couple of innings, as the Philadelphia Phillies dumped the Dodgers, 8-1. Greg Maddux made his return and pitched solidly for awhile, then fell apart.
Like I said, the lone positive from this game was Ethier's shot to give the Dodgers the early lead. Facing a guy like Kyle Kendrick, who sported an ERA of 5.01 coming into this game, you would have thought that they could put more runs on the board. Instead, it was kind of like yesterday against another lefty with a high ERA, Jorge De La Rosa. The Dodgers never really got to him, but squeaked out a win anyway. That certainly wasn't the case today.
Going into the bottom of the 4th, the Dodgers still held the 1-0 lead. Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley were retired to start the inning, and all looked well. But, a walk to Pat Burrell would prolong the inning, and Ryan Howard prolonged the ball for his 34th homer.
The Phillies would add another in the 5th when some guy named Chris Coste (remember that name) singled home Greg Dobbs. But, Coste and Jayson Werth were stranded on 2nd and 3rd with 1 down to keep the score at a manageable 3-1. The Dodgers certainly had a shot...
... Right up until Coste burned them again. The Phillies loaded the bases on 3 straight singles with 1 down in the 6th, and the beatdown would soon be on. Werth hit a sac-fly to make it 4-1, and Maddux just needed 1 more out to get out of trouble. But Coste launched a 3-run shot that would blow the game open and chase Maddux.
The final line for Maddux was 5.2 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. I knew the Phillies were going to score maybe a couple against him, but damn, he got rocked. It's not like he got any run support, though. He pretty much needed to be perfect to win this game, and obviously that didn't happen.
So the Dodgers haven't exactly carried over their momentum they got from last week into this one. They blew a 4 run lead in the 9th on Sunday in which they needed a homer to win, the bullpen imploded on Monday against the Rockies, the defense committed 4 errors on Tuesday, and then this. With Arizona winning and feeling great with Adam Dunn aboard, they better get their act together.
I know the offense can't always set the world on fire, but in their last 4 games, they've totaled just 10 runs. Not so coincidentally, they are only 1-3 in that stretch. Guys are getting on base (tonight they weren't, but they were before), but those big hits haven't been coming. It's amazing what some 2 out RBI's can do.
Things won't get any easier as Cole Hamels takes the mound Saturday afternoon in a great matchup with Clayton Kershaw. This is a rematch of their game from August 12 in which each pitched well, but neither factored in the decision (Dodgers won 4-3 on Ethier's walk-off single). It's a FOX game, but it's actually on here in New York! Imagine that. No Mets or Yankees hogging my TV screen. Life is good.
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